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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

ChapSM Copyright No. 

Tur 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 


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$>uimu S?oui' Series. — Hoi. II 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 

And Other Stories 


BY ^ 

Anna Burnham Bryant 


BOSTON 

KMlgtfm iPrees 

CHICAGO 

L 



46999 

Copyright, 1899, 

By Anna Burnham Bryant. 


TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 


•ECONO COPY, 






S 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Two Little Girls . . . . . 5 

Kate and Clara 7 

The Careless Doll . . . . . . 12 

Miss In-a- Minute 13 

The Dandelion Chain . . . . . 16 

“ Do You Suppose God Likes Me?” . . 18 

The Little Red Mittens . . . . 22 

Two Ways of Asking 28 

Left in Charge . . . . . . 36 

The Boy That Could nIt Wait. ... 40 

Mother’s Coachman ...... 46 

How Edie Ran Away ., ... 49 

Christ’s Little Servant . . . . . 54 

The Friends of Jesus . . . . 57 

When Mamma Speaks . . . . 59 

Questions ’ . 61 

Baby’s Hymn 62 

Kitty’s “ Little B’other” . . . . 66 



TWO LITTLE GIRLS 



by those names. 


WANT to tell you about two 
little girls whom I see very 
often. One is named Jose- 
phine and the other is 
named Mary Bell. That 
does n’t mean they are called 
Dear, no ! You get called 
what you deserve to be 
sooner or later, and 
I know 
you won’t 
wonder 
that this 
little 
miss goes by 
name of Cry-baby 
Cripsey a dozen times a 
day, for she does begin to 
weep so easily, and half a 
day to clear up is quite a short time for her. 



MARY BELL 


6 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


Merry-eyes (Mary Bell, I mean, you know) 
gets her pretty little nickname called through 
the house from top to bottom, for everybody 
wants the chubby little bit of solid sunshine 
“ to have and to hold ,” as they say in the 
wedding service ; and once you get her you 
don’t want to let her go in a hurry. Oh, 
why can’t everybody understand how much 
better people like smiles and sunshine than 
the other thing ? Don’t sulk, boys and girls ! 
If you can’t go outdoors, play you wanted to 
stay in, and be happy. Anything but going 
round with sober eyes and your finger in 
your mouth, like poor unhappy little Jose- 
phine. 


7 


AND OTHER STORIES 


KATE AND CLARA 


ERE ! I ’m going 
to have that ! ” 
cried Clara, com- 
ing into the 
kitchen where 
Maggie the cook 
was just taking 
a big, lovely 
pan of brown- 
cheeked cookies 
out of the low 
oven. She was 
stooping down 
and had n’t time 
to lift the pan 
up out of Clara’s 
reach, and the saucy girl did get one and ran 
off laughing. 

“ Got it, did n’t you ? ” said Maggie, after 
a minute in which she was trying to make 



8 TWO LITTLE GIRLS 

her voice sound good-tempered. It was n’t 
always easy to do that in the house where 
Clara lived. “ That you, 
Katy?” as a pretty girl 
stepped into the door- 
way and stood there 
smiling. “ Maybe you 
would n’t be after liking 
a handful your own 
self?” 

“ Indeed I would ! ” 
cried Kate, catching up 
maggie, the cook her little white apron by 
the corners and making a cake-basket of it. 
“ Are n’t you good, though ! And are n’t 
they good ! ” 

She went outside and called “Tige! Tige!” 
in a merry voice, and the shaggy old fellow 
was soon sharing her cookies. 

“ Speak, sir ! ” she cried, and he said “ Bow, 
wow ! ” as plain as you can. 

“ Will you have it now or wait till you get 
it ? ” she teased. 

“ Now ! now ! ” barked Tige eagerly. 



AND OTHER STORIES 


9 


“Who in the world” — cried Tom, dash- 
ing in at the back door in his bicycle suit. 
“You, Kate! You mean old thing! You 
it was I saw fooling 
with that wrench I laid 
down on the doorstep. 

Now you come and 
find it ! ” 

“Why, I 
don’t re- 
member” — 
began Kate 
pleasantly. 

“Did I 

touch it? “Now! Now /” barked Tige. 



I ’ll hunt! 

for it, anyway. And don’t you want some of 
these cookies while I ’m doing it ? ” 

“Or it was you, Clara, anyway!” cried 
Tom sharply, in too much heat and hurry 
to be soothed even by cookies. “ One of 
you girls was fumbling with it, and now it’s 
nowhere. Now you just hunt it up and 
quick, too, for I ’m in a hurry.” 


io 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


“ I shall do no such thing ! ” said Clara in a 
loud, scolding voice. “ You drop your things 
around, and then expect us girls to hunt for 
them. I ’ve something else to do, thank you ! ” 
“ Here ’t is!” cried Katy, holding up the 
missing tool in triumph. She did n’t say — 
just then — “right un 
der your ownty-downty 
cap, dear ! ” though it 
was the truth, and 
Clara was partly right, 
you see. He was the 
one to blame, but, as 
Katy said to herself, it 
wouldn’t have made 
him feel any pleasanter 
to tell him so. But he saw where she found 
it, well enough. 

“ Sis ! ” he called, a few minutes later, 
tightening the last nut and giving a last fond 
rub with a hemstitched handkerchief to the 
pretty shining rods. “ Can you ride an 
hour or two ? Mother let you ? ” 

“ Oh, I know she would ! ” cried Katy, 



AND OTHER STORIES I I 

clasping her hands in delight. “ I ’ll go ask 
her. I wanted so to go with all you boys 
and girls, but I thought it would be mean to 
ask.” 

“Well, you haven’t asked. I ask you. 
Go along and see.” 

“Yes, dear, if you get back before dark,” 
said mother ; and off they started. 

“ You ’re splendid to take me, Tom ! ” said 
Kate, flying off by his side, with her cap 
pinned on tight and her red cape blowing. 

“ Yes, I ’m a darling,” said Tom. “ I know 
it. But the real, truly reason this time, sis, 
is because you don’t fire up when a fellow 
gets mad and says you did things you never 
did. I tell you it pays to be sweet, and I 
wonder girls don’t find it out more.” 

“ Hm ! ” said Katy. “ Why would n’t it be 
a good thing for the boys, too, I wonder ? ” 


12 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 



THE CARELESS DOLL 

“ O dolly, my dear little dolly ! it gives me a 
pain in my froat 

To fink how you ’have in your playtimes, 
and spoil your best new Sunday coat ! 

Do you s’pose that your poor little muzzer 
can mend and mend all of the day ? 

If you don’t be carefuler, dolly, I ’ll just have 
to frow you away ! ” 


AND OTHER STORIES 


13 


MISS IN-A-MINUTE 


HAVE a friend whom I 



call little Miss In-a- 
Minute. I never knew 
her to answer “ yes ” at 
once and mean it. She 
always says when her 
mother speaks to her 
and gives her some little 
errand to do, “ Why, 
yes, mamma ! Of course 
I will, in just a minute.” 


How much use do 


you think such hearing is? She might just 
as well have no ears at all, for all the good 
they do her. When Jesus says, “ My sheep 
hear my voice,” he means that they do what 
they hear him tell them and when he tells 
them. One day this little girl’s mother said, 
“ Now, darling, I have an idea that grandpa 


H 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 



is coming around with the sleigh by and by 
to take us all to ride. You must be dressed 
and ready.” 

“Yes, mamma, in just a minute,” said the 
little girl dreamily, and then she turned 
another page and thought no more about it. 


Suddenly there was a merry jingling of 
bells and stamping of horses. The doors 
burst open and a flock of furred and hooded 
young folks trooped out all ready for the 
sleigh-ride. Poor little Miss In-a-Minute 
shrank out of sight in a corner. There she 
was in morning dress and slippers — she 


AND OTHER STORIES 


15 


was not ready for any holiday outings. 
Grandpa’s man put his head in at the door 
to count the number he was expected to tuck 
under his buffalo robes. He never 
thought of counting a girl who 
looked like that. 

“ Oh, mamma, I did n’t hear ! ” 
sobbed Katy (for that was her real 
name), when the last bell had 
jingled faint in the distance. “ I 
only seemed to dream I heard ! ” 

Mamma had a long, serious talk 
with her. She told her what a 
fault it was, and how sadly it must 
some day be punished ; and little KATY 
Katy promised to leave her dreaming and 
get some good wide-awake ears that could 
hear, and hear to some purpose. 



1 6 TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


THE DANDELION CHAIN 


T HE dandelions looked like big 
round gold buttons in the 
grass, and Jack and Josie were 
picking them by handfuls, when 
along came their Sunday-school 
teacher and stopped by the 
fence to look at them. It was 
Saturday afternoon, so it 
seemed quite natural for her 
to speak about next day’s les- 
son. 

“ We don’t know but we 
shall go away to-morrow,” said 
Josie shyly. “ Mother said we could go 
a-visiting and stay over Sunday.” 

Their teacher’s face said, “ Oh, I am so 
sorry ! ” but she only stooped down and 
picked a long-stemmed dandelion out of the 
grass and pulled the head off. 



AND OTHER STORIES 


17 


“ What do you do with these ? ” she asked. 

“ Make dandelion chains,” they told her. 

Their teacher began to help them. She 
made a dozen little round rings like these. 

“Ho! You don’t join ’em together!” 
cried the children. “ That never would make 
anything if you made forty hundred. It’s a 
chain , and one link joins into another.” 

“ Oh,” she said. “ Why, it ’s just like Sun- 
day-school lessons ! Single links don’t count 
much. Well, good-by. I ’m sorry you can’t 
come to-morrow. It breaks the chain, you 
see. The lessons all join on to each other, 
or they don’t amount to much.” 

“ Say, Jack ! Le’ ’s go to-morrow, and not 
go off Sunday ! ” 

“ All right, le’ ’s ! ” said Jack. 

And so they did, and the “ chain ” 
wasn’t broken. 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


“DO YOU SUPPOSE GOD LIKES ME?” 


HAT is what a 
little five- 
year-old girl 
said the other 
day, or, rather, 
the other 
night, as she 
was going to 
bed. It was 
such an odd 
question we 
did n’t know what to say for a minute. 

“ ’Cause I want him to ! ” she went on 
earnestly. “ I ’d like to have him look down 
out of his sky and say, ‘ That ’s my little good 
girl. I like dust ’at kind of a girl she is ! ’ ” 
Somehow papa and the rest did not feel 
like smiling. It made us feel as if it would 
be a beautiful thing to happen to any of us. 





AND OTHER STORIES 


19 


But papa said, “ Well, you try all day to-mor- 
row to deserve it. He ’ll be sure to notice.” 

The next day little Dorothy came to play 
with her. She is the dearest, cunningest 
little midget, but she has a temper like a 
snapdragon. About the 
middle of the afternoon 
I heard a great noise 
down in the playroom. 

‘ ‘ Oo tant ! ” 

“ Please let me have 
dolly ! ” begged a dis- 
tressed little voice. “ I 
don’t want her to get 
little DOROTHY h e r head b’okened, 
’cause it is n’t just an evvyday dolly ’at you 
could send their head to Schwartz’s and get 
it mended. Zis dolly is one my auntie 
b’ought all the way from Paris, wight in her 
ownty-downty hannies ! ” 

“ I sant ! ” snapped a little voice like a fire- 
cracker. 

“ Please, Dorofy ! Do, Dorofy ! ” I heard 
in a tearful voice from little Lulie. I think 



20 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 




AND OTHER STORIES 21 

she put out her hand and tried to take it, for 
in an instant I heard such a slap ! I ran 
down then, almost upsetting my typewriter 
table, for you could n’t let such things happen, 
bf course. There stood little Lulie, with a red 
finger print on one round cheek and tears in 
her big blue eyes and a quivering lip ; and 
there stood little spitfire Dorothy with the 
dolly. I took the two little girls in my lap 
and put the dolly to bed, and kissed and 
scolded till the right girl was crying and the 
other one comforted. Then they both got 
kissed, for peacemaker Lulie put her soft 
little arms right round naughty Dorothy and 
said, “ Le’ ’s make up, Dorofy ! ” 

Was n’t that a sweet way of doing ? And 
don’t you think papa was right when he said 
that night that he thought God could say, 
“ This is my dear little Lulie with whom I am 
well pleased ” ? Oh, I think it is well worth 
living for, to “ try to make God like you ” ! 


22 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


THE LITTLE RED MITTENS 


IVE- YEAR-OLD Eva 
wanted to go 
to school when 
the winter 
term began. I 
don’t see how her 
mother ever dared 
to let her. But 
this was long ago, 
when people didn’t 
seem to mind a little 
cold as they do now, and when 
even babies went to school 
^ along with big boys and girls 
as tall as the teacher. 

“ I did go all summer ! ” begged Eva, 
holding tight to Elsie’s hand. 

“ Yes, my dear, but that was warm 
weather,” said her mother. “You would 
freeze and catch your death a-cold.” 




AND OTHER STORIES 


23 


“ I would n’t 
get a single 
death a-cold ! ” 
promised Eva 
solemnly. 

“ Let her go, 
Mary,” said 
grandmother 
kindly from 
her chair by 
the window. 
“ I ’ll knit her 
a pair of warm 
red mittens 
and a warm 
woolen com- 
forter, and 
Elsie can see 
she keeps 
bundled up in 
’em.” 

So she went. 
If grand- 
mother did 



24 TWO LITTLE GIRLS 

that, there really was no reason in the world 
why not. She looked like a little redbird, 
too, and all the other girls began asking their 
grandmothers for things just like Eva’s. 

There was one little girl who was n’t con- 
tent with teasing her grandmother. She 
used to go into the entry and finger the long, 
warm scarf, and sometimes she took the mit- 
tens out of the cloak pocket and tried them 
on. She coveted those mittens. 

One snapping cold morning Susie (the 
little girl that coveted) was out there, as 
usual touching things she ought not to, and 
she had just pulled one tight mitten on and 
was going to stick her fingers into the other, 
when she heard a noise. It was only the 
school coming to order to get ready to go 
home. They always made a great noise do- 
ing that. Susie had got excused a minute 
early so as to go and “ feel of the mittens.” 
I don’t suppose she meant to steal them. 
She had n’t gone so far as that in her mind 
yet, but when you begin to covet, your feet 
and fingers will sometimes outrun your mind, 


AND OTHER STORIES 


25 


and seem to make you do things you have n’t 
planned to. It was so in this case. 

The noise frightened Susie, and she tried 
to pull the mitten off and put it back in the 
pocket. What if the teacher should find 
her ! What if Eva and Elsie should come 
out ! 

She tugged and tugged, but the mitten 
clung to the little warm hand, as if it said, 
“ Keep me ! Nobody will know ! ” All at 
once the inner door did open. She heard 
the feet begin their tramping down the aisles. 
In another minute the other door would open, 
and they would all see. She must wear them 
home. “ I ’ve got to take them now ! ” she 
thought. So she snatched the other and 
started to run. But there was something 
else tied to them. It was the pretty warm 
“ comforter.” Grandmother had made a 
stout red cord that held them all together. 
Never mind. There was no use in stopping 
now. She caught them all and ran, hiding 
them under her cloak till she got past the 
schoolhouse windows. 


26 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


When little Eva came out and found her 
pretty scarf and mittens gone, she cried and 
sobbed, and so did Elsie, but nobody thought 
of Susie’s taking them. They thought some 



EVA 


tramp had come in and carried them off. At 
last they all gave up hunting, and Eva started 
home with Elsie’s mittens on, for the kind 
older sister would n’t let the baby go without 
any. But there was no scarf to wrap up the 
poor little throat. It was a sharp, cold, still, 


AND OTHER STORIES 


27 


frosty air that cut right into their bones and 
made Elsie shiver. Just think what it did to 
Eva ! That night they had to send for the 
doctor to help her breathe, for the croup had 
her by the throat, and it seemed as if it would 
never let her go till it had choked the breath 
of life out of her. But morning came and 
she felt better, and the danger was over for 
that time, though she did not go to school 
again that winter. 

Did she ever get her mittens and scarf 
again ? Yes, I am glad to say poor naughty 
Susie felt sorry and ashamed when she knew 
what it came near doing to her little school- 
mate. She could n’t help thinking that Eva 
might have died from such a cold, and then 
how she would have felt ! She came and 
brought the mittens and scarf back to Eva’s 
mother one day and told her all about it, and' 
she was all forgiven up, too ; for when you 
are sorry and try to make up for wrongdoing, 
that is all you can do. But both little girls 
learned what a bad thing coveting is, and saw 
a little what awful things it leads to. 


28 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 



TWO WAYS OF ASKING 


Stella and Marian sat sewing 
on their dolls’ new Eton jackets 
that Cousin Kate had cut out for 
them the last thing before the 
stage whirled her off in a cloud 
of dust and left them soberly 
staring after her. It wouldn’t be the same 
kind of a house at all without Cousin Kate 


AND OTHER STORIES 


29 


in it. There are some people who are always 
finding out what you want, and doing it, till 
you get so used to them that it does n’t 
seem as if you could live without them. That 
was the way it was with Cousin Kate. But 
then, there had been somebody else who had 
the same thought, too, and — well, he was 
so sure about it, that one day Cousin Kate 
had come down into the children’s playroom 
with pink cheeks and shiny eyes and told 
them that she was going off with him. It 
was a sad, sad day in the children’s play- 
room. 

“ I ’d like to grow up and be just like her ! ” 
burst out Marian, when they had sat for a 
long time in silence. 

Stella was just going to say, “ So would 
I! ” when mother answered, out of the long 
drapery curtain where she was cuddling the 
baby : 

“ Oh, if you only would, darlings ! If you 
could manage to copy the lovely spirit dear 
Cousin Kate always shows everywhere ! But, 
after all, I don’t think it comes by copying. 


30 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 



It is the spirit of Christ in her, and that we 
can all have for the asking. The Bible says 
so.” 


“ For the asking ! ” 


Did n’t mother know 
that there is more to 
it than asking? She 
meant more than she 
said, but there was 
no more time to say 
anything, for father 
came to the door just 
then to speak to her, 
and she went out and 
left the children. 

“ I ’m just going 
to ask Him ! ” said 
Stella, nodding her 
head very earnestly. 

“Ask what?” said 


Marian. 

“ To make me just the kind of a girl Cousin 
Kate was. Good and nice and — just the 
way she is. Mother said He would if you 
asked him.” 


AND OTHER STORIES 


31 


“ God would ? ” 

Stella nodded. 

“ All right. Let ’s ask him.” 

So they did. Little children often do such 
things without telling the older people. They 
were very much in earnest, and they meant 
just what they said, and it was the kind of 
prayer God likes. They felt very happy as 
they came back to their sewing and doll 
dressing. 

The dolls were going to have lovely acorn- 
brown skirts and jackets with silk shirt waists, 
just like Cousin Kate’s wedding dress — the 
going-away one. The question was, what 
color shirt waists. They had a dozen different 
samples to choose from. 

“ This pansy purple is the prettiest,” said 
Stella, holding it up to Susan Arabella to see 
the effect on her complexion. 

“Humph! So / think!” said Marian. 
“ But there ’s only one piece of it, and 1 
wanted that.” 

“And I wanted it ! ” returned Stella. 

“ Well, there ’s only one piece ! ” repeated 


32 TWO LITTLE GIRLS 

Marian, looking as if she meant to “ fight it 
out on that line.” 



Stella looked at her. It was a little thing, 
but you know (have n’t you found it out yet ?) 


AND OTHER STORIES 


33 


that we always “get mad” about the little 
things. We can be gloriously good about 
the big ones. But, oh, how we lose our tem- 
per and forget to ask for the grace of Christ 
in little silly trials that we are half ashamed 
to name as trials ! 

As I said, Stella looked at her. It was n’t 
just a common looking. A lovely, remem- 
bering thought shone in her eyes and made 
them soft and gentle. She wanted that 
pinky-purple thing — oh, how she wanted it! 
Nothing had ever begun to set off her doll’s 
dark eyes and rose-leaf complexion like it. 
But then — but then! What had she just 
been asking for? Would Cousin Kate be 
selfish so ? Would Jesus f 

And, somehow, it was that last thought 
that settled it ! She had often tried to copy 
Cousin Kate before. That spirit does n’t 
come by copying. But when she said the 
name of Jesus, she could n’t help a little 
prayer going with it — a very little prayer, as 
short as Peter’s when he was sinking, “ Jesus, 
help me ! ” It does n’t take long to say it. 


34 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


“Well, you take it, Marian! This other 
one is ’most as pretty.” 

Voice and words were 
sweet as honey, and the lit- 
tle girls went on playing till 
they were tired of it. They 
had a nice time, 
too. Even when 
there is only one 
to really 



be like Jesus, 
there is apt to be 
a good time. It 
is hard to quarrel all alone. 
But little Marian was n’t quite 
happy. She remembered their 
little prayer together. 


AND OTHER STORIES 


35 


“ Stella ! ” she said, when their dolls were 
dressed, and they were holding them up to- 
gether. “ I guess I was a little pig about 
that pansy waist. You wasn’t. You was 
just like Cousin Kate. What made you ?” *,\ 

“Well, I asked God, you know,” said 
Stella softly. 

“ ’N’ so did I, but it did n’t do any good.” 

“ P’raps you forgot to watch and think 
about it. I guess when you ask God to 
make you be good, then you have to try to 
be it.” 

“ I guess so, too,” said Marian ; and they 
put their arms round each other’s waists and 
skipped off together. 





36 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


LEFT IN CHARGE 


IRIAM! MIR- 
IAM ! ” 

A little girl 
came running 
at the call — a 
little girl with 
wavy brown 
hair tumbled 
all about her 
face and a 
dolly cuddled 
up close 
against her cheek. She looked very sober 
when she heard what mamma wanted. 

“ Papa wants me to go out with him this 
afternoon to see a sick woman,” said mamma, 
“ and I shall have to trust you with the 
baby. Can you be very faithful ? ” 

“ I wish my papa was n’t a doctor ! ” pouted 



AND OTHER STORIES 37 

Miriam, looking as if she did n’t want to 
be trusted. 

“ Well, it has its drawbacks, I confess,” 
■said mamma cheerfully, putting on her bon- 
net ; “but there is no help for it, so we 
must get along the best we can with the 
papa we ’ve got. Baby is sleeping sweetly, 
and I don’t 
think he will 
wake for an 
hour at least. 

Then, if he 
stirs, you 
know how to 
make him happy and cozy for another hour. 
By that time I shall be back. Be a good 
little sister, and I will save a great big kiss 
f )r you when I get home.” 

After all, it was fun to be left in charge. 
Miriam played she was Mrs. Dr. Baldwin, 
and pretended to have callers, and went to 
the door a dozen times to shake her head and 
say, “Nothing to-day, thank you!” to ped- 
dlers, and tried to be just as much like her 



38 TWO LITTLE GIRLS 

mother, the real Mrs. Baldwin, as she could. 
At last the baby began to stir. First a 
nestle and then a kick. You have all seen 
babies wake up. Miriam did not wait for 

the cry that 
would have been 
the next thing. 
She knew where 
the baby’s bot- 
tle was, and 
“stopped his 
mouth ” with it. 
What a funny lit- 
tle noise he made 
“eating” it! 
Was n’t she get- 
ting along beauti- 
fully with him, too ! She began to be very 

proud of herself, and to think she was a 

pretty nice little girl anyway ; and when you 
begin to do that Satan is always close at 
the door. I don’t mean to say that it was 
his knock that she heard just that minute! 
Perhaps you would like to see the picture 



AND OTHER STORIES 


39 


of the sweet little girl who stood there when 
she opened it. 

“Why, Lily Dale!” giggled Miriam, with 
a hug and a squeeze. “ Where did you 
come from ? ” 

“ Mamma says to come to my house an’ 
have a party!” said Lily. “And there’s 
f’osted cakes to it ! ” 

‘ ‘ O Lily ! I ’ve got the baby to take care of ! ” 

“ Come ! ’’ said Lily, pulling her. “ I want 

I ” 

you ! 

Was n’t it hard to say No ! Poor little 
Miriam ! But of course she could n’t go. 
Was n’t she left in charge ? Had n’t she 
been trusted to be faithful ? 

“ No, Lily, not this time,” she said, shak- 
ing her head very hard, “ I can’t leave baby.” 

When mamma came home she called her 
a good, faithful little girl. 


40 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


THE BOY THAT COULD N’T WAIT 


F there was one word 
in the English lan- 
guage that Ted 
hated, it was the 
word “ wait.” And 
people were always 
saying it. 

“ I want to go to 
school with the big 
boys ! ” he began before he was out of little 
plaid “ kilts ” and long curls like a girl-baby’s. 

“ Wait a while,” said mother, thinking of 
the long quarter-of-a-mile walk and the long 
three-hour session on the high benches that 
were made for big boys and not for such very 
little men and women. 

“I want it to be Christmas now!" he 
whined two weeks before stocking time ; and 
again he had to be told to wait, for Santa 
Claus was one that would n’t be hurried. 



AND OTHER STORIES 


41 


Mamma hoped that as he grew older and 
wiser, he would get over and outgrow this 
baby habit of wanting things to happen right 
off, the minute he thought of them. But no ; 
it was a habit of mind that he was born with, 
and it grew as fast as he did. It was a great 
trouble to mamma. 

In one way and another he did manage to 
“ hurry up things,” as he put it. People got 
tired of his teasing, for one thing. Somehow 
or other they never turned out quite so hap- 
pily for it. A birthday party that mamma 
had planned for him became such a worry to 
everybody in the house that mamma said at 
last it would be just as well, perhaps, to have 
it a little earlier than she meant to. The real 
birthday came on Sunday. So of course it 
must be either Saturday or Monday, and Ted 
talked so much about it that the invitations 
were changed, and all the little boys and girls' 
came Saturday instead. It was vacation, and 
they might just as well have come on Mon- 
day, if it had not been for Ted. Oh, how 
sorry he was afterward ! For promptly at 


*2 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


the hour for the party on Monday afternoon, 
who should come in, with a bagful of presents 



and games and nuts and candy, but the dearest 
uncle in the world, who had remembered the 


AND OTHER STORIES 


43 


little boy’s birthday, and come a hundred 
miles on purpose to give him a good time. 
That was only one of the times that Ted was 
sorry. Another was when he got up in th?. 
middle of the night 
and crept out to the 
Christmas stockings 
and “ peeked ” to see 
what old Mr. Claus 
had put in them. All 
at once a little wire 
frame of butterflies 
began sliding down, 
buzzingand humming 
like so many bumble- 
bees ! It waked up 
papa and mamma in- 
stantly, and back to 
bed he went, but he 

never saw that stockingful again ! They 
thought it was time to teach him a lesson. 

It was n’t the last one he had to have, by 
any means, before he knew it by heart and 
could practice it. But little by little it did be* 



OLD MR. CLAUS 


44 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


gin to make a difference, and by the time 
another. Christmas came round he had become 
quite as patient as most people, and lost none 
of his presents by peeping. There is an 
old proverb that says, “ Everything comes to 
him who waits.” At all events, Ted learned 
that they never come any sooner to the im- 
patient. 



MOTHER’S COACHMAN 



46 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


MOTHER’S COACHMAN 


oachman ? ” calls 
when the babies 



get to crying and 
teasing. She has 
a great deal of 
work to do be- 
sides pleasing 
babies, and she 
could n’t get 


along with 
both if she 
had n’t a little 


boy to help her. 


Freddy Coachman, as he loves to call him- 
self, is her right-hand man. When he hears 
her say that, down go his book and slate, or 
the top he is spinning, and up jump the 
children, for they all know what is coming. 
Freddy Coachman makes a good time for 
them when he sets about it. 


47 


AND OTHER STORIES 

“ Four horses, would n’t you, ma’am ? ” he 
asks politely of Mrs. Van Doozleberry (who 
is only Mattie, but she is the biggest and 
fattest, so they call her the mother) ; and she 
drawls back, “ Oh, yes, I 
guess so, John, but do rub 
up their harnesses and make 
things look a little more 
stylish somehow. I don’t 
think you take good care of 
your team, very.” 

“ Yes, ma’am,” says John, 
and fixes his reins over 
some chairs, and jumps on the box and off 
they go. The coach is nothing but grandma’s 
big old carved chest, and the prancing horses 
are two or three stiff-legged chairs, but it 
does n’t make a bit of difference. The chil- 
dren get on, each with an armful of dolls or 
playthings, and they are all as happy as the 
queen. 

It does n’t look like very hard work, but if 
you have ever tried to make a flock of little 
folks happy a whole afternoon and let their 



4S 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


mother work, you know that Freddy has 
earned the good kiss he gets at bedtime. 

“ Huh ! ” he says when she praises him. 
“ Like to know why I should n’t ! Guess you 
looked after me ’nough times when I was 
little ! ” 



AND OTHER STORIES 


49 


HOW EDIE RAN AWAY 


NCE there was a little 
girl who had a nice 
home and a dear mam- 
ma and nothing in the 
world to trouble her 
from morning till 
night. But she 
used to make 
troubles. Did you 
ever hear of such 
a queer little girl ? 

“ No, Edie, you 
must put away all 
your dolly clothes and make the playroom neat 
first, before you take the fairy tales,” said 
mamma, coming into the room just in time 
to see the little girl curling down in the big 
armchair with a bright- covered book all full 
of pictures. 



50 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


Oh, how Edie’s lips pouted ! How her 
eyes flashed sparkles out of them ! How her 
feet kicked and swung and her fingers 
drummed on the chair-elbows ! 

“ I ’m going to run away,” sobbed Edie when 
mamma went out. “I’ll 
run away off, and then 
see how she ’ll like it ! ” 
This was something 
that Edie had often 
thought of doing before, 
and even said that she 
would do, but somehow 
she had never really 
tried it. This time she 
felt so cross at every- 
body that she jumped 
up and put on her hat 
and cloak and really ran out-of-doors. Oh, 
was n’t it cold out-of-doors ! Did n’t the 
wind blow ! The very trees as she went by 
shook their long fingers at her and the wind 
seemed to shout at her round all the corners, 
“ Go home, go home, bad girl, go home ! ” 



AND OTHER STORIES 


51 


And, oh, she wanted to go home ! The 
briers scratched her, and the cold made her 
shiver. She was afraid, and she kept think- 
ing how warm and nice it was at home — yes, 
even in that littered playroom. But she 
had run so far and so 
fast that she could n’t 
think how to get back. 

All at once she 
heard a beautiful 
noise ! It was a dog 
barking. It was a 
beautiful dog, too, 
though Edie was often 
very much afraid of 
dogs. But this was 
Jack ; her own splen- 
did, faithful, noble Jack, and when she saw 
Jack she was sure that somebody — papa, 
perhaps — was close behind, and her heart 
jumped for joy. 

And so he was, and it was not many 
minutes before little Edie was safe under her 
father’s big greatcoat and they were running 



JACK 


52 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


back past the big trees with their long, 
crooked fingers, and laughing at the wind 
that seemed 
to have 
changed its 
tune all of a 
sudden, and 
not so very 
long before 
she was safe 
at home i n 
all the folks’ 
arms and eat- 
ing a bread 
and milk sup- 
per and get- 
ting into a 
soft, warm 
trundlebed, 
with Jack watching beside her and now and 
then licking her face or fingers. 

“ The briers scratched it,” she explained to 
mamma when she saw her looking at the 
poor little red, bruised knees. 



AND OTHER STORIES 


53 


“ I think I heard wolves or bears,” she 
sobbed a moment later, and mamma did not 
even smile, though she knew there were no 
bears or wolves within a hundred miles at 
least. 

“ Oh, if my little girl would only mind 
mamma,” she said in a low, loving voice, 
“ how many troubles she would never know 
anything about ! ” 

That was all she said, but little Edie 
thought all the more. Perhaps you would 
like to learn the verse that mamma taught 
her that next morning when she was doing 
her patchwork : — 

“ Stay, stay at home, dear heart, and rest, 
Homekeeping hearts are happiest, 

O’er all that hover their wings and fly, 

A hawk is hovering in the sky ; 

To stay at home is best.” 



54 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


CHRIST'S LITTLE SERVANT 


ET it yourself ! 
I ’m nobody’s 
servant ! ” 

What words 
to come out of 
a little boy’s 
mouth ! And 
the worst of it 
was that the 
eyes matched the mouth for crossness, and 
the tone was worse than either. Aunt Helen 
looked up in surprise, and the grief on her 
face kept back any more words of that sort 
if Rob had been going to say them. 

Little Alice got up from the floor and tod- 
dled along through the huddle of blocks to 
the door and coaxed it open at last by push- 
ing her little fingers in the crack, and pretty 
soon she came back joyously with the cup of 
water that Arthur wanted. 



AND OTHER STORIES 


55 


“You precious little sweet ! ” cried Arthur, 
drinking off the water, what was left of it, for 
she had spilled a good many drops between 
the door and the sofa. “You see if I don’t 
wait round on you in good style if ever I 
get over this lame foot ! I believe 
you love to wait on folks, you 
darling ! ” 

“ Ess, I ’ove to ! ” said the baby, 
showing all her white teeth. 

“ * Except ye become as little chil- 
dren,’” said a low voice in the cor- 
ner, leaving the verse unfinished. 

Rob looked up quickly, with the 
shame-color growing deeper in his " ^ 
cheeks. This nice Aunt Helen was 
only in the house on a visit, and all the 
children cared a good deal what she thought 
of them. Sometimes Rob wished that she 
were not quite so “noticing.” 

“ What do you suppose that verse means ? ” 
she asked presently, and she looked at Rob, 
though they all answered. 

“ Sweet, like Baby Alice ! ” said three 



56 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 




voices, for Josie had come in from school and 
caught up the baby. 

“ Good and loving, and willing to wait on 
others ! ” said Aunt Helen, still looking at Rob. 

s. v . “If there’s 

anything a 
Christian 
has to learn, 
it is to be a 
good serv- 
a n t for 
love’s sake. 
Every- 
body’s serv- 
ant, not just for this one or that one because 
you like him, but as well to those you don’t 
like. Then you are like the little children, 
who are like Jesus.” 

“If everybody’s servant, who ’s master ? ” 
asked Rob sulkily. 

“Christ,” said Aunt Helen. “And his 
rule is, ‘ By love serve one another.’ When 
he came down from heaven, he came for 
love’s sake, as a servant.” 



AND OTHER STORIES 


57 


THE FRIENDS OF JESUS 


I ’m a little friend of Jesus, 

Walking in his way ; 

Where he goes my feet must follow 
All the day. 



I'm a little friend of Jesus ; 

Little hands, I give 
You to Jesus for his service, 

While 1 live. 

If I train my ears to listen, 

All his words obey, 

Then “ My little friend, I love you ! 
He will say. 


58 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


I will say the words of Jesus ; 

He was mild and meek, 

And an angry word they never 
Heard him speak. 



I will read the words of Jesus ; 

(Truth and life are they), 

For he says that they shall never 
Pass away. 

We are little friends of Jesus 
By this word and sign : 

“ If ye know and keep my sayings , 
Ye are mined 


AND OTHER STORIES 


50 



WHEN MAMMA SPEAKS 


She makes the sweetest picture sitting 
there with her dolls, does n’t she ? But this 
is the' way she talks : — 

“ Yes, mamma, in a minute ! I ’m right in 
the middle of a lovely story ! ” 

So the fish cart ^ets by before Bessie gets 
to the window to hail it, and they don’t have 


6o 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


baked bluefish for dinner, and mother is at 
her wits’ end to know what to have. 

“ Rock the cradle, dearie ! ” calls mamma 
softly, and Bessie says, “ In a minute,” and 
waits to get her dollie’s frock straight and her 
slipper on, and meantime the nestling baby 
wakes with a long “ O-ow ! ” that settles the 
matter of rocking. 

“ I do wish you would come when I speak , 
and not a minute or two later ! ” sighs mamma. 
Does your mamma ever wish so ? 



AND OTHER STORIES 


6l 



QUESTIONS 


Are you always kind and sweet, 
Little chattering tongue ? 

Do you softly, gently greet 
One who does you wrong ? 

Do you say, “ No matter, dear ! ” 
Kiss and quite forget, 

Though the quickly rising tear 
Made your eyelids wet ? 

Do you In your heart forgive, 

Not a cross word say ? 

What a happy life to live ! 

That was Jesus' way. 


62 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 



BABY'S HYMN 

F^vESUS, lover of my soul, 

Let me to thy bosom fly ! 
While the nearer waters woll, 
While the tempes’ ’till is high, 
Ozzer refuge has I none” 



AND OTHER STORIES 


63 


The sweet little voice broke off suddenly, 
for the singer saw a shadow on the floor and 
looked up to see a big man looking down at 
her with a queer look on his face. He was 
a very rough man who said bad words to his 
oxen when they would n’t go in the right 
road, and he did other things that made him 
cross to the folks at home sometimes. When 
people are cross, it is almost always because 
they have done wrong about something. 

But the big man was n’t cross to little baby 
Lee. Her voice was too sweet and her eyes 
were too soft and sunshiny. 

“What’s that you’re singing?” he said 
by and by, and if his voice sounded rough he 
did n't mean to make it so. 

“ It ’s ’bout Desus,” said baby. 

“What do you know ’bout him?” asked 
the big man. 

“ Lill Lee knows lots o’ fings ’bout him,” 
she answered. “ He said ‘ Suffer der chil- 
dren to come unto me.’ It says so in God’s 
Book. My papa reads out of it in der 
morning.” 


6 4 


TWO LITTLE GLRLS 


“Humph!” said the man. “You say 
words without knowing the meaning of ’em!” 

“ ’Course I know what they mean ! ” said 
the baby. “ My papa tells me, and my Sun- 
day-school teacher does, too. That ’s where 
to go to learn 
things ’at you don’t 
know about. Jacky 
and I go every Sun- 
day-day. Jacky is 
a big boy and I take 
hold of his hand and 
he won’t let nos- 
sing hurt me. So 
’course I know 
what the words 
mean.” 

“ What ’s a ‘ refuge ’ ? ” asked the big man, 
laughing. 

“A good p’ace to wun to! ’At’s what 
refuge means. Did n’t you ever know ’bout 
’at ? ’At ’s what my papa told me ! When 
Desus says ‘ Come,’ you mus’ wun wight to 
him ! ” 




AND OTHER STORIES 65 

“ Ha, ha ! laughed the big man, “ you ’re 
a good one ! ” 

“ ’Es,” she answered; “I’m a good one! 
’At ’s what my papa says ! ” 

He laughed again as he went along the 
hall to find her papa ; but he was soberly 
thinking, too, about things. He was a busy 
man, but he thought about the baby’s little 
hymn a good many times that day and other 
days. And one of those days he came to 
talk with the minister and tell him that he 
wanted to give up his rough ways and bad 
words and be a Christian. 

“ ’T was the baby’s hymn set me thinking,” 
he told him. “ I began to feel bad because 
I had n’t any ‘ place to run to.’ And at last 
I remembered what she said: ‘When Jesus 
says “ Come,” you must run right to him ! ’ ” 

> 



66 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


KITTY'S “ LITTLE B'OTHER ” 


ITTY sat look- 
ing over her 
account book. 
She was a 
small girl to 
do much busi- 
ness, and yet 
she had her 
little red ac- 
count book, 
and all the 
spaces were 
nicely ruled in 
it just as they 
were in Uncle Frank’s ledger. He was a big 
man and had to go to the store every day, 
while she was only a little schoolgirl with a 
very small pocketbook and not much money 
in it, even on pay day, as her papa called 



AND OTHER STORIES 


67 


Monday morning, when he gave her the 
week’s “ allowance.” It was his notion that 
she should keep a careful account of every 
cent, and there was only one rule and that he 
was very strict about. She must never owe 
anybody. 

“ Pay as you go, or 
go till you can pay,” 
he told her ; and so 
far she had kept the 
rule. 

This morning it was 
very hard to make 
“ the money come 
right.” BabyTedwas 
pulling at her dress 
and she could not find 
a corner where he 
would not spy her out 
and come creeping after her with all his little 
bare “ piggy toes.” He climbed up in a 
chair to get the “pretty plants,” and when 
she took him away from that, he wanted her 
to build grizzly bear dens and let him drop 



68 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


the bears in. The little blocks were bears 
and sometimes they tumbled the house down, 
but that was all the more fun for the builders. 

“ Get away ! ” she cried at last quite crossly. 
“ I can’t ever make it come right.” 

“Ickle b’other 
’ants Kitty,” he cried 
mournfully. 

“You ’ve named 
yourself just right,” 
said cross Kitty. 
“You are a little 
b’other, if ever there 
was one.” 

The little brother 
went off and sat in 
the doorway with one 
arm over Don’s shaggy back. Don did not 
have accounts to keep. 

“ I ’m sorry you are n’t keeping square with 
the world,” said Uncle Frank, putting down 
his newspaper. “ You ought to pay your 
debts better.” 

“ Why, Uncle Frank ! ” cried Kitty. “ The 



AND OTHER STORIES 69 

idea ! when I pay ‘ down,’ as papa said, for 
every single thing I get.” 

“ For all that, I could write down the 
names of at least a dozen people you are 
owing.” 

“ Do it,” said Kitty, proudly handing over 
the red book. “You can have a leaf for 
every one.” 

This was what she found at the top of one 
blank page when he handed it back to her : — 

Kitty in account with Mother Dr. 

To ten years’ patience ? 

And the next page hinted that she was in 
debt to father, and so on till everybody 
she knew seemed to have something against 
her, even the baby. 

“ Why, Uncle Frank,” she cried again, “ do 
you really think I owe people for such things 
as that ? ” 

“Of course you do,” he said. “And 
though you never can pay them, still, the 
only honest thing is to keep trying at it. 


70 


TWO LITTLE GIRLS 


Pay something. Here, I ’ll write you a motto 
for your book.” 

This was the motto : “ Owe no man any 
thing, but to love one another.” 

Kitty thought a long time about it, as 
much as five minutes. When she stopped 
thinking, the first thing she did was to go 
and hunt up that little “b’other” and take 
care of him so that her mother could do the 
ironing. 














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